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Onyx shot to her feet. “Muscle cramps?”
I winced. “Yeah, I guess.”
“It’s a common side effect. It just means your fluid levels are out of balance. Let me get a doctor.”
The doctor came over and checked my machine. He adjusted a few settings, then gave me some meds that were supposed to help. I just wanted to rip the tubes out and never come back here. The doctor kept a close eye on me, which made me really uncomfortable, because I just wanted some fucking privacy.
Onyx wanted to stay to keep me company, but the doctor made her leave when her shift was over. I was left all alone for the rest of the session.
I fled the hospital as soon as I could. I sat in my car, but I didn’t go anywhere. I was afraid my leg was going to cramp up while I was driving and I’d crash or something. It was a terrifying thought. Instead, I called Lucas.
“Can you come pick me up?” I asked him.
“I’m on my way.”
Lucas didn’t even ask questions. He was just there for me when I needed him. He pulled up next to me in the parking lot a few minutes later. I got out of my car and fell into his arms. A sob broke from my chest, and for the first time in a long time, I let myself break down.
Lucas held me close and rubbed my back. He didn’t have to say anything. Just having him here with me helped. Finally, when I stopped shaking so badly, he drew away and said, “Let’s sit down.”
We sat in my car—me in the passenger seat, and him in the driver’s seat. Our cats meowed from the back seat. I handed him my dialysis bill.
“I don’t know what to do,” I sobbed.
His eyes widened. “I thought you had private insurance.”
“I did! I wouldn’t put it past the priestesses to go after that, too. They want my own body to poison me.”
“That’s not going to happen. Put your seatbelt on.” Lucas turned on the ignition.
I furrowed my brow. “Where are we going?”
“We’re going to talk to your grandmother. We’re going to figure this out. I promise.”
Lucas left his car in the parking lot and drove us to Grammy’s. Our cats followed us up the sidewalk.
Grammy was in the kitchen when we entered the house. “Nadine, is that you—?”
She cut off when she met us in the hallway and saw my red, puffy eyes. She wiped her hands on her apron. “What happened?”
I handed Grammy my bill, along with the fine I’d received earlier. Together, they were over a thousand dollars. It made me physically ill to show them to her. “I need help, Grammy. I don’t know how I’m going to pay for this.”
Her features fell as she looked them over. “We can handle this. We can—oh, dear. They don’t seriously think they can charge this per treatment!”
“Apparently, they can,” I said bitterly.
“Have you heard anything from Nadine’s insurance?” Lucas asked.
“This is the first I’ve heard anything!” she cried, obviously pissed. “I don’t pay those premiums for nothing. I’m going to have a word with this so-called medical insurance company. Take a seat in the living room.”
Lucas and I sat on the couch, while Grammy paced back and forth with the phone to her ear. Lucas held me close, but I couldn’t help but feel hopeless as the minutes passed.
The moment Grammy connected with a representative, she started barking into the phone. “Yes, you can help by telling me how you dare to call yourselves an insurance company when you can’t even pay a simple medical bill… You want to talk to the insured? Talk to me. I pay her insurance premiums… I’m her grandmother. That’s who I am! Screw you and your bureaucracy.”
After talking circles with the representative for at least ten minutes, she put the man on speaker phone. Dear Goddess, I didn’t want to talk to them. I just wanted this to be over. I gave them my details, and Grammy went off on them. “What’s the meaning of this bill? You’re supposed to cover my granddaughter’s health insurance… No, I don’t want excuses. I want answers!”
Grammy was ruthless. At one point, I thought the representative was going to hang up on her. Somehow, Grammy managed to make them escalate our call to a supervisor, who told us there was a processing error when my school insurance was canceled. We had to convince them they were my primary insurance company, then told us to call the hospital to send them the bill again.
It must’ve been hours before we got everything sorted, and I wasn’t even sure it was sorted by the end of it. By the time Grammy hung up, I had a massive headache.
